History Awesome / HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix

* "None of them had seen [[GentleGiant Hagrid]] in a [[UnstoppableRage real temper]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes before...]]" Umbridge has two teachers dismissed from Hogwarts during her reign as High Inquisitor: Professor Trelawney (Divination teacher) and Professor Hagrid (Care of Magical Creatures teacher), the former because she wasn't actually a prophet (or so she thought), the latter because [[FantasticRacism he was a half-giant]]. When Professor Trelawney is dismissed, she cries like a baby, ''begging'' Umbridge to let her stay, saying "Hogwarts is my home!" and generally being really pathetic, even though it was a sad scene nonetheless. When Hagrid is dismissed, does he cry? No. Does he beg to be allowed to stay? No. What does he do? He delivers an epic CurbStompBattle to the four Aurors (read: exceptionally powerful wizards) that came to take him away, with his ''bare hands'', '''''while holding his unconscious dog under his arm''''', while the whole time Stunning Spells are [[NoSell bouncing uselessly off him]] (which Hermione later explains is due to his giant's blood, giants being notoriously hard to Stun). [[DirtyCoward Umbridge]] is [[OhCrap freaking]] '''''[[VillainousBreakdown terrified]]''''', two of the Aurors get knocked out cold by Hagrid (who as mentioned before, is not using any magic, and is facing a team of the most highly-skilled wizards there are), and it ends with Hagrid fleeing into the ''Forbidden Forest'', [[ShootingSuperman still being bombarded with spells that are doing absolutely nothing to him]].

* One for Harry for his teaching style. He made sure that the DA learn Defense Against the Dark Arts so thoroughly, that the effects of the training is seen in later books. In fact, by the last book, of all the organisations opposing Voldemort, the DA is the only which casualties are minimal.[[note]]Just three: Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley and Lavender Brown.[[/note]]

* One for Harry for his teaching style. He made sure that the DA learn Defense Against the Dark Arts so thoroughly, that the effects of the training is seen in later books. In fact, by the last book, of all the organisations opposing Voldemort, the DA is the only that suffered the least casualties.[[note]]Just three: Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley and Lavender Brown.[[/note]]

** This deserves some elaboration: Umbridge is constantly interrupting [=McGonagall=]'s lesson to harp on some trivial thing. Eventually, [=McGonagall=] turns to her and calmly, but with unmistakable [[DeadpanSnarker snark]], asks how she expects to learn anything about [=McGonagall=]'s teaching methods if she insists on interrupting, as talking during the Transfiguration lesson is not generally allowed. Not only does Umbridge hold her tongue until the end of class after being admonished by [=McGonagall=], she doesn't follow her around as she does with the other teachers. Harry wonders if this is because she thinks it wouldn't be allowed. FridgeBrilliance there, as depending of how old is Umbridge, she likely had [=McGonagall=] as a teacher, meaning she know full well how stern she can be.

*** It also means that [=McGonagall=] is placing ''[[FakeUltimateHero Gilderoy freaking Lockhart]]'', a guy being possessed by '''Lord Voldemort''' and a AxCrazy Death Eater above Umbridge.

*** It also means that [=McGonagall=] is placing ''[[FakeUltimateHero Gilderoy freaking Lockhart]]'' and a guy being possessed by '''Lord Voldemort''' above Umbridge.

** This deserves some elaboration: Umbridge is constantly interrupting [=McGonagall=]'s lesson to harp on some trivial thing. Eventually, [=McGonagall=] turns to her and calmly, but with unmistakable [[DeadpanSnarker snark]], asks how she expects to learn anything about [=McGonagall=]'s teaching methods if she insists on interrupting, as talking during the Transfiguration lesson is not generally allowed. Not only does Umbridge hold her tongue until the end of class after being admonished by [=McGonagall=], she doesn't follow her around as she does with the other teachers. Harry wonders if this is because she thinks it wouldn't be allowed.

[[folder:Book]]

*** But Dumbledore would've died anyway due to wearing Gaunt's ring later that summer. So this actually gave Dumbledore a quick and painless way out, ''and'' prevented Voldemort from gaining full control of the Elder Wand, even if his plan didn't quite go right.

* Bellatrix overdid her share of amazing things during the series, but her crowning moment of awesome occurred at the end of ''The Order of the Phoenix'', where she defeated Tonks, Sirius, and Kingsley, which were half of The Order of the Phoenix present at the battle. Not only that, but she deflected Dumbledore's spell, while all the other Death Eaters were easily caught by that same spell. She also delivered a CurbStompBattle with Harry when he tries attacking her. None of this was shown during the movie, but Helena Bonham Carter's acting made up for that flaw. Of course, she was later owned by Dumbledore's enchanted statue, but still, it took ''Dumbledore'' to defeat her.

* Hermione Granger vs. the Ministry of Magic's propaganda campaign. [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Hermione wins]].

* An off-page one for [[BewareTheNiceOnes Lupin]], who is the only Order member bar [[BigGood Dumbledore]] to escape the battle in the Department of Mysteries unscathed, even taking down Lucius Malfoy relatively quickly in a duel. Bear in mind that this same battle ended with Tonks (a junior Auror) unconscious, Moody (a hugely experienced Auror) pretty much incapacitated, Kingsley (another experienced Auror) injured and Sirius dead. Not bad for a [[BadassBookworm geeky]] [[CoolTeacher teacher]].

*** Moody took Tonks as his "protegee". Apparently Moody really ''is'' a good teacher as he taught a woman who is always falling over due to her constantly shifting centre of balance to be a competent fighter.

* After returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore walks into the Forbidden Forest and singlehandedly rescues Umbridge from the centaurs. Not only that but he walks out of the forest without a scratch. Keep in mind that this is after Dumbledore asked Firenze to come teach at the school, meaning the centaurs probably weren't fans of Dumbledore at the moment.
** Granted the centaurs might not have an issue with Dumbledore, being as they were probably aware of Dumbledore's kind attitude towards magical creatures; they might have handed Umbridge right over. If that's the case, then it's even more awesome; Dumbledore can inspire the respect of a herd of (we-have-no-need-for-human-ways-or-laws, we'll-attack-whoever-we-want-in-our-forest) centaurs.

* Harry's done astonishingly well on his Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. (''teaching'' Defense Against the Dark Arts to a bunch of fellow students will have that effect) and the examiner is quite pleased... then notes that he heard Harry can produce a Patronus, and offers him extra credit if he does so. Harry looks at Umbridge (who, it turns out, sent the Dementors that made him use the Patronus that almost got him expelled at the beginning of the year), grins a shit-eating grin, imagines her getting sacked, and uses that as his "happy thought" to summon his stag Patronus, which canters down the hall as everyone stares at it in awe (except Umbridge, who's extremely annoyed). Harry leaves not only confident he's scored an "Outstanding" (which he has), but also having given Umbridge a big, silver, stag-shaped middle finger.

* Harry averting LoveMakesYouDumb when he calls out Cho for defending Marietta. Yes, it's a KickTheDog moment where he tells her not to run off crying, but also Harry is not going to just let his crush for a girl forget that her so-called best friend would have let them all get expelled. He's right that Marietta made a choice, and it's her fault Umbridge became headmistress. What's more, Harry realizes that his crush was just infatuation, because if he actually knew Cho he would have known about her irrational loyalty to Marietta. Then he's fine with moving on from her when she goes on to date Michael Corner.
* To contrast, Ginny ''never'' has a moment of miscommunication with Harry, unlike Cho. When he isolates himself from everyone after Christmas, she tells him off for forgetting that Voldemort once possessed ''her''. She tells him that if it had happened, he would have gaps in his memory, and would have ended up in places without knowing how he got there. Usually Harry is furious when his friends call him out; here, Ginny actually ''calms him down'' by reassuring him he's not the weapon that nearly got her father killed.

[[folder:Movie]]

** Similarly, Harry and Sirius double-duelling with Lucius and Dolohov showcases how awesome our heroes are. Harry, whose only duels have been against [[HarmlessVillain Malfoy]] and [[BigBad Voldemort himself]], manages to hold his own just as well as the experienced duelists with decades more experience. Sirius, for his part, seems to be simply [[BloodKnight enjoying himself.]]

* When the Wizengamot are voting whether to convict Harry or not, Madame Bones raises her hand to pardon him. As she does so, ''she meets Fudge's eyes and '''glares.''''' When the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement - who, it's implied, ''was not consulted before the expulsion and the trial occurs'' - glares at you, you ''know'' you've fucked up.

** There are even a handful of Slytherins in the giant crowd cheering for Fred and George.

** This was the final scene filmed during production, making perfect sense, since the scenes gives a good beginning for the war that lies ahead for Harry.

* Voldemort is no slouch during the final battle, producing a huge serpent made of fire and an implosion that shatters everything that's made of glass, then sending every shard of glass Dumbledore's way. For someone who fears Dumbledore, he certainly held his own (briefly).

-->'''Umbridge:''' You first applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post. Is that correct?\\

* Luna's CMOA from ''Order'': during the fight in the Department of Mysteries, Luna (already bleeding from her lip) is confronted by a Death Eater flying towards her from a great height. The camera shows her from the Death Eater's POV as she looks up at him placidly, pulls out her wand and (with an expression of mild curiosity on her face) hits him with a levitation spell that's so powerful ''it blasts him backwards into a shelf of prophecies''. Now, ''[[BewareTheSillyOnes imagine what she could do if she was angry...]]''

* An off-screen moment of awesome for the Longbottoms, then part of the first Order of the Phoenix, were tortured with the Cruciatus Curse for information by Bellatrix - and never gave in. Even in absolute agony, and knowing that their spouse was also being tortured (possibly just a room, or a few feet, away) and they still didn't give away any information.
** Not that it diminishes what they managed to do, but there was little they could say - they were tortured by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr because the latter thought they had information about where Voldemort was after attacking the Potters.
*** What makes it even more awesome, is how the Cruciatus is used, it gets ''stronger'' the more you ''want'' to use it, and Bellatrix is a complete sadist, which would make her use of it a million times worse than anyone barring Voldemort, a normal person would probably have said anything to make them stop.

** When Umbridge says she'll cast the Cruciatus Curse on Harry, Ron flips out and gives Umbridge a DeathGlare that tells her if he wasn't being restrained, she wouldn't be conscious, her being his "teacher" and part of the Ministry be damned.

* Can we please talk about Ron ripping up Percy's letter? I mean, Ron's dealt with most of his family ignoring/forgetting about/making fun of him all of his life, and now, Percy is giving him the chance for acceptance. More than that, Percy's giving him advice on how to get everything Ron saw in the Mirror of Erised! Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, holding the House Cup...if Ron had taken Percy's advice and dumped Harry and Hermione in favour of what Percy wanted, Umbridge probably would have put him on the path to getting all of those. Ron's greatest desire was to be someone important, admired, and respected, like his brothers and his two best friends, who are a world-renowned child superstar and the smartest person in school. What does Ron do instead? Rip up the letter and throw it in the fire because he values his best friend Harry more than he values his desire for importance and respect. This troper has always theorised that this was the moment Hermione realized she "more than fancied" Ron.

* The one thing that ''each and every'' teacher agrees on: '''Umbridge must go'''.
** When someone is such a horrible teacher that ''Severus Snape'' is rising up against her, you ''know'' it's awesome.
** When someone is such a horrible teacher that a stickler for the rules, like ''Minerva [=McGonagall=]'', lets people - and one uncontrollable poltergeist -- break the rules, you ''know'' it's awesome.
** Even more awesome. When Umbridge becomes Headmistress, the gargoyle protecting the headmaster's office refuses to let her in, which means that the castle itself refuses to acknowledge her as a headmistress. It's official. Even Hogwarts Castle itself hates Umbridge, and it's implied that ''[=McGonagall=]'' is actually running the joint while Dumbledore's out of action.
* One of Neville's better crowning moments of awesome is when he's crippled, unable to cast spells, and still [[EyeScream stabs a Death Eater in the eye]] with Hermione's wand. While it would be awesome in any context, it's made more so given how few {{combat pragmatist}}s we see in the series, especially amongst the purebloods.

** [=McGonagall=] railing all over Umbridge's attempts to crush Harry, saying she'll do everything she can to get him made an Auror even if she has to die in the process, all the while giving Umbridge the hate glare. Awesome.
*** Made even more awesome by the fact that Harry doesn't just become an Auror, but the ''head'' of the Aurors. Yes, [=McGonagall=] did it in the end!

** ''"You are raving," said [=McGonagall=], superbly disdainful.'' "Superbly disdainful". I mean, ''right''?

*** Even more awesome: [=McGonagall=] ''survives'' this. Madam Pomfrey is pretty clear that a woman of [=McGonagall's=] age and constitution, hit at that close range in the chest by Stunning Spells that powerful, could very easily have died, but Minerva's not done yet.

* As a prefect at Hogwarts, and especially in her house, it was only a matter of time before Hermione had her authority challenged by the red-headed twins of chaos Fred and George. When she stands up to them, and they stand up to her, [[BringIt they taunt her with challenges to give them detention]]. But Hermione utterly terrifies them with the promise, "[[CoolAndUnusualPunishment I'm going to write a letter to your]] ''[[AnythingButThat mother]].''" Made even better because the twins ''immediately'' complied, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness an act which was never seen before, or since.]]
** This is pretty justified, as it's been well-established across the series that [[BewareTheNiceOnes you do not make Molly Weasley angry]]. Fred and George would know how she would react to their antics and how she would disapprove. They'd sooner just get detention than have her on their case. And Hermoine's hung out with the Weasleys enough to know that.

** Even more awesome. When Umbridge becomes Headmistress, the gargoyle protecting the headmaster's office refuse to let her in, which means that the castle itself refuses to acknowledge her as a headmistress. It's official, even Hogwarts Castle itself hate Umbridge and it's implied that ''[=McGonagall=]'' is actually running the joint while Dumbledore's out of action.

* The fact that Harry and his friends, a bunch of fifth-years and fourth-years, managed to escape and defend themselves against about a dozen trained and deadly Death Eaters for quite some time was pretty amazing. This get lampshaded by Snape of all people in the next book, when he's mocking Bellatrix for the failed mission.
* Harry does something both incredibly brave and daring during the original encounter with the Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries, which buys the group some time to prepare a distraction. Shortly after the Death Eaters reveal themselves, he says Voldemort's name. This makes Bellatrix [[BerserkButton very angry]] and she tells him to shut up, saying that as a half-blood, he has no right to speak Voldemort's name. Harry looks her straight in the face and tells her (along with all the other Death Eaters) that Voldemort himself is in fact a half-blood. That's right. A fifteen-year-old boy, told some of the most dangerous witches and wizards on the planet that they are essentially all hypocrites because their boss is in fact one of the very things they discriminate against.

* Bellatrix overdid her share of amazing things during the series, but her crowning moment of awesome occurred in the end of ''The Order of the Phoenix'', where she defeated Tonks, Sirius, and Kingsley, which were half of The Order of the Phoenix present at the battle. Not only that, but she deflected Dumbledore's spell, while all the other Death Eaters were easily caught by that same spell. She also delivered a CurbStompBattle with Harry when he tries attacking her. None of this was shown during the movie, but Helena Bonham Carter's acting made up for that flaw. Of course, she was later owned by Dumbledore's enchanted statue, but still, it took ''Dumbledore'' to defeat her.

* Damn near everything [=McGonagall=] does, period, which, again, also count as SugarWiki/FunnyMoments. Especially her response to being inspected by Umbridge in ''Order of the Phoenix''.

*** Just to prove how powerful Dumbledore and, in turn, Grindelwald, is - Dumbledore and Grindelwald were ''fighting to kill'' in their final fight and both ''survived''. Voldemort has to ''run away'' because he can't win - whatever he did, Grindelwald is implied ''to have gone down fighting to the last second.'' This is why ''he'' lasted for over 20 years in power, taking over most of a continent and Voldemort manages about 10 and one country in total.
** In a blink-or-miss it CMOA that was cut from the movie, Voldemort nearly gets Dumbledore with a [[InstantDeathBullet Killing Curse]] combined with TeleportSpam. Unfortunately for him, Dumbledore is so CrazyPrepared that he had an out for any drop in his own guard. Before the killing curse hits Dumbledore, JustInTime, Fawkes swoops in and takes the blast, saving Dumbledore.

** It should be noted that he only "subdues" her for about two seconds. Once she gets up and starts getting serious, Harry [[CurbStompBattle clearly finds himself outmatched]]. Still, once he realizes how out of his league she is duelling wise, he opts to taunt her by telling her the prophecy broke and that even if she kills him, Voldemort will be furious with her for failing the mission. It works.

*** Even better. All of the Death Eaters are pure-blood extremists, who happen to be there for a prophecy. Said prophecy is in Lucius' hand when he gets punched and is broken when he falls. That ''Muggle'' form of fighting screwed up the Death Eaters entire reason for being there.

** One Death Eater gets one for being the only one smart enough to start running the moment Dumbledore shows up. Unfortunately for him, Dumblefore effortlessly captures him as well.
* As a prefect at Hogwarts, and especially in her house, it was only a matter of time before Hermione had her authority challenged by the red-headed twins of chaos Fred and George. When she stands up to them, and they stand up to her, [[BringIt they taunt her with challenges to give them detention]]. But Hermione utterly terrifies them with the promise, "[[CoolAndUnusualPunishment I'm going to write a letter to your]] ''[[AnythingButThat mother]].''" Made even better, because the twins ''immediately'' complied, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness an act which was never seen before, or since.]]

* After Umbridge grabs the student Marietta Edgecombe in Dumbledore's office, shaking her very hard, before anyone can see him, Dumbledore pulls out his wand and says that he will not allow her to harm one of his students; it even mentions that it was one of the few times that anyone has ever seen Dumbledore angry. May also double as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} to see [[PapaWolf how much Dumbledore cares for his students.]] Umbridge is rightfully terrified

** Kingsley had smartly used the time where the rest were distracted by Dumbledore and making use of the fact that he was behind Harry by using Harry's body as a coverscreen.
** The fact that Harry after noticed Kingsley's spell, is capable of recognizing the effects of the Memory Charm in Marietta, and [[AwesomenessByAnalysis links the two facts in about five seconds]].

** Made better by Phineus Nigellus line which ends the chapter "You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts...but you cannot deny he's got style..."

* Snape, showing nothing but contempt to Umbridge when she catches Harry and the DA. Especially awesome when he's telling her to suck it using lame excuses when asked for Veritaserum, and you realize later on that he was the first to inform the Order of the situation.

*** Snape hates literally everything. When Umbridge is around, however, everything else gets some time off while he masterfully drags her.

** Even better... Before the Aurors hit [=McGonagall=] and Fang, Hagrid was just defending himself and trying to reason. Them attacking [=McGonagall=] and Fang hit his BerserkButton, and ''only then'' he delivered a brutal CurbStompBattle in two seconds flat. He went in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge... then saw they weren't worth the trouble, picked up his dog and quietly left.

* Hagrid also gets one earlier on when he saved Firenze from about a dozen centaurs in the woods. Though we don't get to see this, it really shows that you do not mess with Hagrid. Later on when Hagrid is in the woods with Harry and Hermione, the centaurs attempt to threaten them only for Hagrid to put them in their places. Though the centaurs let them off with a warning because he is with "foals" it's possible that they were simply too wary of Hagrid after the last time. Hagrid even brushes off the centaurs' threat toward his little brother Grawp saying the Forbidden Forest belongs to Grawp as much as the centaurs.
* Neville standing up to Bellatrix in the Ministry of Magic. Keep in mind, this isn't some rent-a-cop Death Eater. This is ''Bellatrix freaking Lestrange'', arguably the most dangerous witch in the world, the one who tortured his parents into insanity. And not only does he meet her taunt ("Why, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!") with pure, unadulterated rage as opposed to fear, he charged in to save Harry. With a wand that didn't work properly for him. Unable to pronounce spells. His line "HE'S DOT ALONE! HE'S STILL GOD BE!" (Translation: "He's not alone! He's still got me!") is one of his biggest [=CMOAs=] yet. [[{{Foreshadowing}} It was just a taste of the awesome to come.]]

** During the scene where Bellatrix is taunting him, Neville struggles so hard that the Death Eater restraining him asks for someone to Stun him. Neville is that determined to attack her, even bare-handed and with a broken nose, that a grown man asks that someone Stun a high-school student.
*** For Neville, it's not ''just'' because Bellatrix is an evil wizard - ''ItsPersonal''. No wonder Neville's kicking up a fuss. His parents have ''literally gone bat-shit insane because of her'' and he wants to avenge them and, by god, he intends to, his own safety be damned.

* Harry subdues Bellatrix while tracing her down, tapping into his UnstoppableRage. This is the woman known as Voldemort's best lieutenant. She's supposed to be Voldemort's most skilled Death Eater, except for Snape. Harry has only ever had one, maybe two, competent Defence against the Dark Arts teachers and five years experience of fixing Hogwarts's problems on his side.
** It should be noted that he only "subdues" her for about two seconds. Once she gets up and starts getting serious Harry [[CurbStompBattle clearly finds himself outmatched]]. Still once he realizes how out of his league she is duelling wise he opts to taunt her by telling her the prophecy broke and that even if she kills him Voldemort will be furious with her for failing the mission. It works.

** Similarly, if in a smaller scale, there's a moment of awesome for Ron. He's the only one of the DA members, besides [[TheHero Harry]], that was completely undefeated by any of the Death Eaters. He ''is'' incapacitated, but he's the only one besides Harry never to lose his wand or be restrained by any of the Death Eaters.

** While this accomplishment may seem somewhat diminished by the fact that neither Frank nor Alice would have any idea where Voldemort (whom by this point had reduced himself (through his own sheer stupidity) to 'less than the meanest ghost') was, keep in mind that nowhere do we hear that the Longbottoms gave the Death Eaters '''''anything'''''. They could have easily given them any old rubbish ("oh, he's at so-and-so street at Number 50") which could have led to a better outcome for them, but, instead, they faced the torture and didn't give Bellatrix, Barty Crouch, or any of the Death Eaters the satisfaction of breaking them!

* Can we please talk about Ron ripping up Percy's letter? I mean, Ron's dealt with most of his family ignoring/forgetting about/making fun of him all of his life, and now, Percy is giving him the chance for acceptance. More than that, Percy's giving him advice on how to get everything Ron saw in the Mirror of Erised! Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, holding the House Cup...if Ron had taken Percy's advice and dumped Harry and Hermione in favour of what Percy wanted, Umbridge probably would have put him on the path to getting all of those. Ron's greatest desire was to be someone important, admired, and respected, like his brothers are and his two best friends, who are a world-renowned child superstar and the smartest person in school. What does Ron do instead? Rip up the letter and throw it in the fire, because he values his best friend Harry more than he values his desire for importance and respect. This troper has always theroized that this was the moment Hermione realized she "more than fancied" Ron.
* Honestly, Lily calling Snape "Snivellus" retroactively becomes this. Sure it's Snape's worst memory, but it shows Lily reaching her wit's end at sticking up for a boy who's been cruel to her sister, tries to control who she sees and hangs around with people who use dark magic on others for fun. She intervenes to stop James from bullying him...and the thanks she gets is to be called a slur by her best friend. She fires back with an epic "fuck you", and it's established she refuses to have anything to do with him afterwards. It's very comparable to someone finally coming to terms with an abusive relationship and putting an end to it, which as many can attest to is no easy thing.

** "''You're'' the weak one. And you'll never know love, or friendship... ''And I feel sorry for you!''"

* The fact that Harry and his friends, a bunch of fifth-years and fourth-years, managed to escape and defend themselves against about a dozen trained and deadly Death Eaters for quite some time was pretty amazing.

** Professor [=McGonagall=] just looks at a firework interrupting her class and sends a student to fetch Umbridge to deal with it. It's official folks, Minerva [=McGonagall=] giveths no fucks. Credit to it, unlike most things and people, the firework doesn't whither under [=McGonagall=]'s glare...

** It may not have achieved anything, but she ran into battle against ''four Aurors'' to stop them arresting Hagrid. And taking four Stunners in the chest in the process. Madam Pomfrey assures Harry that none of those four Aurors, whom [=McGonagall=] herself earlier described as exceptionally talented elites who underwent three years of harsh training, would have stood a chance against [=McGonagall=] in a fair fight. They had to resort to suddenly whirling round to attack her without warning.

* Dumbledore showing up right when the Order members begin losing to the Death Eaters. By the time the Death Eaters realize what's going on, Dumbledore already has his wand out and quickly disables all of them (except Bellatrix Lestrange and he even gets her soon enough). [[HopeBringer As soon as he arrives Harry instantly thought to himself "we are saved" before Dumbledore had even done anything except show up!]]

* Dumbledore assures Fudge that he won't be taking on him, 2 Aurors and his Senior Undersecretary alone... ''"not unless [they were] foolish enough to force [him] to".''

*** This ''has'' to be elaborated on: Azkaban is a prison guarded by creatures that literally suck all the joy and happiness out of the prisoners, leaving most of them with no will to even contemplate breaking out, which only one person has ''ever'' broken out of... and Dumbledore says he wouldn't want to break out ''because it's a waste of his time and he'd rather be doing something else.'' He's talking breaking out of a maximum security wizard prison the way most people talk about minor troublesome tasks and given that Gellert Grindelwald, who only lost out on the top spot of "supreme evil wizard" because Voldemort came along, didn't ''dare'' come to Britain while Dumbledore was around, Dumbledore is someone you do not trifle with.

** He was, in the DA, improving so rapidly that near the end of their lessons with Harry he was ''the second person after Hermione'' to master the spell they were learning. And even though he was injured, inarticulate and unable to perform magic, he still charged an armed Death Eater ''who could've killed him'' and stuck a wand in his eye to save Harry. Gryffindor, indeed.

* Harry subdues Bellatrix while tracing her down, tapping into his UnstoppableRage. This is the woman known as Voldemort's best lieutenant. She's supposed to be Voldemort's most skilled Death Eater, except for Snape. Harry has only ever had one, maybe two, competent Defence against the Dark Arts teachers and five years experience of fixing Hogwarts' problems on his side.

** While this accomplishment may seem somewhat diminished by the fact that neither Frank nor Alice would have any idea where Voldemort (whom by this point had reduced himself (through his own sheer stupidity) to 'less than the meanest ghost') was, keep in mind that nowhere do we hear that the Longbottoms gave the Death Eaters '''''anything'''''. They could have easily gave them any old rubbish ("oh, he's at so-and-so street at Number 50") which could have led to a better outcome to them but instead they faced the torture and didn't give Bellatrix, Barty Crouch or any of the Death Eaters the satisfaction of breaking them!

* Assuming Luna ''is'' actually reading the Quibbler upside down and not just doing it to be weird (or that there's some upside-down text), then she's ''very'' intelligent as it is notoriously hard to read backwards and/or upside down words.

* Can we please talk about Ron ripping up Percy's letter? I mean, Ron's dealt with most of his family ignoring/forgetting about/making fun of him all of his life, and now, Percy is giving him the chance for acceptance. More than that, Percy's giving him advice on how to get everything Ron saw in the Mirror of Erised! Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, holding the House Cup...if Ron had taken Percy's advice and dumped Harry and Hermione in favour of what Percy wanted, Umbridge probably would have put him on the path to getting all of those. Ron's greatest desire was to be someone important, admired and respected, like his brothers are and his two best friends, who are a world-renowned child superstar and the smartest person in school. What does Ron do instead? Rip up the letter and throw it in the fire, because he values his best friend Harry more than he values his desire for importance and respect. This troper has always theroized that this was the moment Hermione realized she "more than fancied" Ron.

** Dumbledore vs Voldemort need some elaboration: after their initial beam-o-war, every spell they unleash is essentially a counter to the other. Voldemort conjures a fire snake? Dumbledore traps him in a bubble of water. Voldemort shatters all the glass and flings the shards at Dumbledore? Dumbledore turns them into a fine powder with a shield spell. Whats more, there's no music so you focus entirely on the action. The uncut version (with the fountain statues coming to life, Voldemort using a shield and Fawkes protecting Dumbledore) would have been excellent had it been released, but the finished version is still quite good.

* Dumbledore is about to be arrested by Fudge, Umbridge and Kingsley... and down comes Fawkes with a dangerous cry. Dumbledore's hands grasp Fawkes's tail, Fawkes goes boom, and an enormous shockwave hits the room. Fawkes and Dumbledore are gone immediately. ''That'' was when you saw why Dumbledore had the rep he did; even his ''pets'' are dangerous.
** It gets better: the shock-wave slammed into everyone ''but'' Harry and Cho, ''and didn't affect anything else in the room.'' The level of control that would require is just as awesome, if not moreso, than the display of power itself.
--->'''Kingsley:''' You may not like him, Minister, but you can't deny, Dumbledore's got style.

*** And there are four assaulters. Remember how was it like when Harry is Crucio-ed? ''It was pain beyond anything Harry had ever experienced; his very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar... he wanted it to end... to black out... to die.'' It is not written specifically but it is perfectly plausible that poor Frank and Alice suffered from [[ColdBloodedTorture multiple Crucios]] at the same time. There is no surprise that this is considered the most evil crime in modern wizarding history.

*** For Neville it's not ''just'' because Bellatrix is an evil wizard - it's ''personal''. No wonder Neville's kicking up a fuss. His parents have ''literally gone bat-shit insane because of her'' and he wants to avenge them and, by god, he intends to, his own safety be damned.

*** Just to hammer it home - Hagrid's hands are, in the first book, described as being "as big as dustbin lids". This means that two of the Aurors were knocked unconscious by hands the size of dustbin lids hitting them with all the force an eleven foot six inch tall half-giant ''can'' hit someone with.

* Neville standing up to Bellatrix in the Ministry of Magic. Keep in mind, this isn't some rent-a-cop Death Eater. This is ''Bellatrix freaking Lestrange'', arguably the most dangerous witch in the world, the one who tortured his parents into insanity. And not only does he meet her taunt ("Why, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!") with pure, unadulterated rage as opposed to fear, he charged in to save Harry. With a wand that didn't work properly for him. Unable to pronounce spells. His line "HE'S DOT ALONE! HE'S STILL GOD BE!" (Translation: "He's not alone! He's still got me!") is one of his biggest CMOAs yet. [[{{Foreshadowing}} It was just a taste of the awesome to come]].

--->'''Flitwick''': I could have cleared it up myself, of course, but I wasn't sure I had the ''authority''...

** The fact that Harry after noticed Kingsley's spell, is capable of recognizing the effects of the Memory Charm in Marietta, and links the two facts in about five seconds.

* Sirius decking Lucius at the start of the fight in ''Order of the Phoenix''. "Get away from my godson". *BAM!* The Malfoys seem to come off on the wrong end of [=CMoA=]'s.

-->Sorry, Professor. [[IronicEcho But I must not tell lies]].

--->'''Kingsley''': You may not like him Minister, but you can't deny, Dumbledore's got style.

* The fact that Harry and his friends, a bunch of fifth-years and fourth-years, managed to escape and defend themselves against about a dozen trained and deadly Death Eaters for quite some time was pretty amazing. As is the fact that Harry initially buys time by taunting them about Voldemort being half-blood.

*** The reason Peeves is so willing to take the twins' command to heart? Simply put, Hogwarts is his ''home''. The people in the castle are probably the closest thing he has to friends or family, and Umbridge is making the place a misery. He may be more than just a touch crazy, and he's potentially injured students with his pranks in the past, but Dumbledore has never once tried to send him away, and the kids tend to get used to him pretty fast even if he gets on their nerves a lot. The kids, and even the school itself, are fighting back against Umbridge. Fred and George are showing him a level of faith and respect nobody appears to have ever done before now by asking him to take up the fight against her, and it appears was something he wanted to reward that trust by following through on their request.

*** The reason Peeves is so willing to take the twins' command to heart? Simply put, Hogwarts is his ''home''. The people in the castle are probably the closest thing he has to friends or family, and Umbridge is making the place a misery. He may be more than just a touch crazy, and he's potentially injured students with his pranks in the past, but Dumbledore has never once tried to send him away, and the kids tend to get used to him pretty fast even if he gets on their nerves a lot. The kids, and even the school itself, are fighting back against Umbridge. Fred and George are showing him a level of faith and respect by asking him to take up the fight against her, and it appears was something he wanted to reward that trust by following through on their request.

*** The reason Peeves is so willing to take the twins' command to heart? He may be more than just a touch crazy, and he's potentially injured students with his pranks in the past, but Dumbledore has never once tried to send him away, and the kids tend to get used to him pretty fast even if he gets on their nerves a lot. Simply put, Hogwarts is his ''home''. The people in the castle are probably the closest thing he has to friends or family, and Umbridge is making the place a misery. The kids, and even the school itself, are fighting back against Umbridge, and the show of trust in him by Fred and George to take up the fight against her was something he wanted to reward by following through on that request.

** One of the Slytherins tries to use his Umbridge-given powers to bully Fred and George. He ends up stuck in Vanishing Cabinet limbo for weeks.

** As well as everything that the mass of unnamed students who took up after the twins left did. Hexing Umbridge's minions, making themselves sick to get out of class (''her'' class, specifically), putting Nifflers in her office, the list goes on.

*** It also means that [=McGonagall=] is placing ''[[FakeUltimateHero Gilderoy freaking Lockhart]]'' above Umbridge - he may have been a fraud, but apparently he was a good teacher in the end.

** She also offered to duel Fudge, Umbridge, and two Aurors on Dumbledore's behalf and only backed off when Dumbledore told her that Hogwarts needed her.

*** Just to prove how powerful Dumbledore and, in turn, Grindelwald, is - Dumbledore and Grindelwald were ''fighting to kill'' in their final fight and both ''survived''. Voldemort has to ''run away'' because he can't win - whatever he did, Grindelwald is implied ''to have gone down fighting to the last second.'' This is why ''he'' lasted for over 20 years in power and Voldemort manages about 10 in total.

** There is also Dumbledore mocking Voldemort for being unable to accept the concept of FateWorseThanDeath.

* During that scene, Kingsley modified that student's memory to make it seem like there were only two meetings of the DA. On the spot, without getting noticed. So either he had his wand hidden up his sleeve, or he did an excellent Memory Charm, on the fly, ''wandlessly.''
** Actually Harry noticed. Kingsley had smartly used the time where the rest were distracted by Dumbledore and making use of the fact that he was behind Harry by using Harry's body as a coverscreen.
** The fact that Harry after noticed Kingsley's spell, is capable to recognize the effects of the Memory Charm in Marietta and links the two facts in about five seconds.

* Neville standing up to Bellatrix in the Ministry of Magic. Keep in mind, this isn't some rent-a-cop Death Eater. This is ''Bellatrix freaking Lestrange'', arguably the most dangerous witch in the world, the one who tortured his parents into insanity. And not only does he meet her taunt ("Why, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!") with pure, unadulterated rage as opposed to fear, he charged in to save Harry. With a wand that didn't work properly for him. Unable to pronounce spells. His line "HE'S DOT ALONE! HE'S STILL GOD BE!" (Translation: "He's not alone! He's still got me!") qualifies as his first huge CMOA in the series. [[{{Foreshadowing}} It was just a taste of the awesome to come]].

** During the scene where Bellatrix is taunting him, Neville struggles so hard that the Death Eater restraining him asks for someone to Stun him. Neville is that determined to attack her, even bare-handed and with a broken nose, that a grown man asks that someone Stun a middle-school student.

* Assuming Luna ''is'' actually reading the Quibbler upside down and not just doing it to be weird, then she's ''very'' intelligent as it is notoriously hard to read backwards and/or upside down words.

* Honestly, Lily calling Snape "Snivellus" retroactively becomes this. Sure it's Snape's worst memory, but it shows Lily reaching her wit's end at sticking up for a boy who's been cruel to her sister, tries to control who she sees and hangs around with people who use dark magic on others for fun. She intervenes to stop James from bullying him...and the thanks she gets is to be called a slur by her best friend. She fires back with an epic "fuck you", and it's established she refuses to have anything to do with him. It's very comparable to someone finally coming to terms with an abusive relationship and putting an end to it, which as many can attest to is no easy thing.

** They don't give a damn if this gets them immediately kicked out of Hogwarts, as this act of rebellion gives them extraordinary publicty for the joke shop they open afterwards.

** He's shown casting a patronus, which in the books he didn't manage until the last one.